You got it right Joe.
Garden Way was the parent company and purchased Bolens. Went Chapter 7 a few years ago and MTD purchased tiller tooling & name.Murray got the chipper-shredders.
Power equipment has been going through a consolidation the last 20 years or so that has left us with,alphabetically:
American Yard Products - parent co Electrolux. Huge public owned European consumer products company. Roots in old Roper company.Poulan-Weedeater,Husqvarna,Craftsman pvt label (917.xxxxxx in model number) Jonsereds, among uS brands.Also purschased Bluebird,Yazoo-Kees to try the commercial biz.
John Deere-Huge public owned US company-breaking into lower priced consumer market with HomeDepot as well as dealer line. Bought Homelite,owned 2 years,lost 125 million US $,sold Homelite to Techtronics,a private label power tool company from China.
MTD-Private owned company,markets Cub Cadet as a premium line,also Yard Man,Yard Machine,White,Troybilt,Bolens,as well as private label brands.Fewer as mass market channel consolidates .
Murray- now a Chinese owned company,markets Murray some private label,mostly WalMart.
Those are the giants........Toro,public owned (Wheelhorse,Exmark) and Simplicity,employee owned,(Snapper,Ferris) and Ariens -Gravely are among the survivors so far.
The rest are simply in the game....but days are probably numbered. The Law of natural selection is at work in the mower business.
Look for someone to buy an engine manufacturer next,since other than the transmission components,is the most expensive part of a tractor. That,btw,has always been one of mTD's advantages on its competition in manufacturing.They make their own power transmission components and also have an interest in Hydrogear.
Sorry for long post.